Aubameyang, Ozil, Giroud And A Very Different Arsenal.

First and foremost, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is officially an Arsenal player and it’s a great signing. He’ll wear the No14 shirt vacated by Walcott. Hopefully his presence in attack along with Mkhitaryan and Ozil can have a Pinnacle offers in 2018 style positive impact on a season that is flagging quite badly – “quite badly” being the nice way of saying ‘biblical sh*tstorm’. It’s a bit worrying that we haven’t done anything to address any of the glaring defensive issues, but I guess the thinking is; if we’re good enough in attack we can just out-score our opponents. Winning games 4-3 or 5-4 will be a wonderful tonic for increased blood pressure amongst Arsenal fans…

Yesterday’s final day of the transfer window was rather eventful. There were no surprises or bizarre loans signed off as the window closed, but there was certainly movement, and the majority was very positive – it’s been widely reported that Mesut Ozil has signed a contract extension for the next 4 years, but it’s not been confirmed in an official capacity.

(Edit)

Well… It turns out I missed that confirmation on Twitter whilst I was working. I’d argue that keeping our boggle-eyed friend is the best piece of business we’ve done in January.

They do both look so happy. It’s worth remembering that Arsene Wenger is the reason we have Mesut Ozil. Whatever you might think of his ability to manage at present; there’s no dispute he has pull amongst players.

One thing that occurred to me whilst I was at work this morning is the speed with which things are changing at Arsenal. Here’s a very good example via a picture someone posted on Twitter (I’m sorry there’s no credit but I forgot who you are!)

Those 4 players have all now left Arsenal. The picture was taken last December.

A great deal of what’s happened has been attributed to Sven Mislintat and Ivan Gazidis taken responsibility away from Arsene Wenger. I think there is a lot of truth in that. We’ve acted swiftly to resolve some poor management with contacts and it’s fairly safe to state that Alexis’ departure hasn’t left our attack any weaker when you consider he’s been replaced with Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang. From the perspective of someone who only guesses, I think we’re building now for next season.

In al honesty, we won’t get into the Champions League through a high league finish. In order for that to happen, we’d have to pretty much go the rest of the season unbeaten and win all the games against the teams above us. With our defence, I don’t see that happening. We could go the Europa League route but I have my doubts for the same reasons as before. This season could still bring silverware and a little success, but I think the summer of 2018 is when we’ll do big things. I sense that there’s considerable movement because considerable change is on the way. Whether that is managerial remains to be seen.

Lastly today, a word for poor old Olivier Giroud who had to sign for Chelsea. I say, “had” because I get the impression he had to go to them in order to sway the merry-go-round of transfers in our way. He’s been a great servant for Arsenal Football Club over 5 and a half years and it’s testament to the man that he can join Chelsea and still receive almost universal well-wishes. It’ll be weird seeing him play for them.

That’s all for today, folks. I’ll be back to blather more tomorrow.

Until that time, and as always: thanks for reading, you beautiful bastards.